Question: I’ve just started driving my first manual car and I think I’m getting the hang of it pretty well. But I’m a little unsure how to reverse with a manual transmission properly. Is there any special trick I should know about?
Answer:
Many drivers new to manual transmissions worry about how to reverse a manual car, but the answer is pretty simple and isn’t too different from going in reverse in an automatic car.
You’ll just need to follow these steps:
- Place your foot on the brake pedal.
- Press the clutch pedal fully.
- Put the gear selector in reverse.
- Slowly release the clutch until you feel the biting point.
- Press on the gas pedal gently and ease the clutch out.
- When you’re done reversing, push the clutch back in and put your foot on the brake.
If you are starting on a hill, you will need to use the emergency brake to ensure you don’t roll down the hill. Instead of releasing the e-brake early on, you’d release it only when you are ready to move off.
Where is reverse on a stick shift?
You can find the position of your reverse gear by looking at the gear lever. You will see a diagram that shows you how many gears there are and where the reverse gear is located. The reverse gear is almost always at a corner.
Some stick shifts have a dedicated selector for the reverse gear. For example, a five-speed stick shift might have the “R” selector at the bottom right or top left. For example, Mazda’s five-speed manual transmission has the R selector on the bottom right. In rare cases, your reverse gear is to the left of the first gear, such as the classic Land Rover Defender.
However, some six-speed manual transmissions might share the selector. For example, Mazda six-speed transmission shares the sixth gear with the reverse gear. To enter into reverse, you’d need to push the gear shifter down. Other cars might have a ring to pull up in order to differentiate between the sixth gear and the reverse gear.
For most cars, you will feel a difference when you engage the reverse gear compared to when you select a regular forward gear. It might take more force to put it into reverse. This is because the reverse gears are often non-synchromesh spur gears which are cheaper but also more crude and more difficult to engage compared to helical forward gears.
Why won’t my manual car go in reverse?
As a result of the cruder design, sometimes, you just can’t seem to push the stick into reverse.
This might suggest an issue with your gearbox, but oftentimes your problem can be solved by simple fixes such as releasing the clutch and trying again. If that doesn’t work, try shifting into first gear and then shifting into reverse.
This helps because it resets the gears. As a result of the less-refined design of reverse gears, they can present a situation where your gears line up tooth against tooth such that you can’t push the stick shifter into position.
Xuyun Zeng is a content strategist with a wide-ranging content background including tech, journalism, cars and health care. After graduating with highest honors in journalism, Xuyun led a newspaper to win eight awards, helped start an award-winning film industry podcast and has written over a hundred articles about cars repair, state laws and insurance. Prior to joining Jerry, Xuyun worked as a freelance SEO consultant with a mission to create the best content that will help readers and grow organic traffic.
Kevin Berry is the Senior Director of Content at Jerry and has been working in the digital content space since 2011 across the car insurance/repair, personal finance, travel and sports industries. Prior to Jerry, Kevin was a content team lead at NerdWallet overseeing the Multimedia Production and Travel Rewards teams. Previously, he worked for NBC Sports, Comcast Cable and Nike. He has a Master`s Degree from Arkansas State and a Bachelor`s from Oregon State University.
